water and souls
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: Words don't last forever. Some other things do.
1. crystal

**A/N:** Written for the Another Mega Prompts Challenge, roll four six-sided die. The sum is how many entries your poetry collection should have (sum of rolls = 14), and for the 100 Prompts Challenge at the TPC, prompt #089 - crystal

* * *

 **water and souls  
** 1\. crystal

Words don't last forever.  
Even when they leave our lips,  
they scatter in the air  
and are forgotten.  
Even when they leave our fingertips  
they're worn with walking feet  
and heavy things and the raining  
and the new sheets of soil  
to coax the seeds  
down underneath.

Words leave seeds  
sometimes. Sometimes  
they don't.  
Sometimes they just  
want to recall,  
want to forget

But there's no eternal crystal  
nor closet, nor tomb  
for these words.


	2. lap

**A/N:** This time it's #087 - lap from the 100 Prompts Challenge.

* * *

 **water and souls**  
2\. lap

It's a cute little fella  
on his shoulder,  
sometimes on his head,  
never on his lap.

That says something,  
he thinks.  
It's the voice in his ear,  
the weight that pushes him forth  
and pulls him back,  
the guardian angel  
by his side  
but not the weight  
to keep him down.

He pulls him up instead  
and coaxes him along:  
a cute little fella  
that was once  
his best friend.


	3. enter

**A/N:** This time it's #030 - enter from the 100 Prompts Challenge.

* * *

 **water and souls**  
3\. enter

There were doors  
through which  
he was never  
to pass

And yet  
like air  
he passed.

There were no locks  
that could keep him out.  
There were no walls  
that could bar his steps,  
and no sword  
that could parry the blows.

He walked in like a path  
had been made for him,  
no matter how they tried  
to change the flow.

It was inevitable  
and they could only  
let him go.


	4. decimal

**A/N:** This time it's #038 - decimal from the 100 Prompts Challenge.

* * *

 **water and souls**  
4\. decimal

There's a fragile balance  
they fight for

But is it really  
so fragile  
as they claim?

They pull  
to and fro  
but what would happen  
if the crumbling crumbled  
without the hand  
they played?

They'd suffer less  
or more, perhaps.  
They'd leave a trail  
behind, instead of  
vanishing  
into wisps  
of smoke…

Is that the fragile balance  
they've sought?


	5. error

**A/N:** This time it's #042 - error from the 100 Prompts Challenge.

* * *

 **water and souls**  
5\. error

He'd acted before he thought  
and the dominoes fell  
one by one.

Haste had led to that cascade  
and he hadn't known,  
he hadn't thought –

He hadn't even time to think  
before it was all gone.


	6. maze

**A/N:** This time it's #048 - maze from the 100 Prompts Challenge.

* * *

 **water and souls**  
6\. maze

He didn't know anymore  
what road led  
somewhere,  
nowhere  
that place he wanted to go

And where is it?  
This place he needs to reach  
because he has no home,  
no future,  
no hope.


	7. learning

**A/N:** This time it's #049 - learning from the 100 Prompts Challenge.

* * *

 **water and souls**  
7\. learning

He was a blank slate at first,

a robot  
programmed  
through the motions  
without a choice

but now he's better equipped.  
He makes his own choices,  
good and poor  
and still  
pulled along  
by a chain.

That doesn't change.  
He's still a slave  
after all  
and yet  
he's a different  
sort of slave  
right now.

A slave to a god that  
tells him to smile  
is better.


	8. star

**A/N:** This time it's #050 - star from the 100 Prompts Challenge.

* * *

 **water and souls**  
8\. star

They say making a wish  
upon the stars  
will come true

But the stars are part  
of the night, the black sky  
that curses their souls  
and drags them down  
where there's no  
heaven or happiness  
at the end of the road…

The stars are lanterns  
from the spirits,  
candle flames  
for the butterflies

And they're all just butterflies  
with wishes  
to be dangled  
as bait  
for them.


	9. delicate

**A/N:** This time it's #055 - delicate from the 100 Prompts Challenge.

* * *

 **water and souls**  
9\. delicate

He's got no reason  
to want to spare  
their souls

Except there's maybe something  
inside of him, that thinks  
it's such a waste  
to let them go.

The others don't understand.  
They call him soft.  
They call him weak  
when he's the only one  
who's strong enough to pass the trails  
they put in front of him.

Maybe there is reason  
or maybe there isn't.  
He just doesn't think  
he should need to kill  
to be strong.


	10. present

**A/N:** This time it's #063 - present from the 100 Prompts Challenge.

* * *

 **water and souls**  
10\. present

He has his friend back  
but it's only for a little while.  
The timer's running behind them.  
They know it; they both know  
but they can't help  
but smile like it's forever  
anyway.


	11. evidence

**A/N:** This time it's #069 - evidence from the 100 Prompts Challenge.

* * *

 **water and souls**  
11\. evidence

The black marks appear  
and disappear just as quick  
until it's like a dream  
except they keep on coming  
and crumbling  
in his grasp…

They chase him,  
like a bad nightmare  
or a curse  
that just won't leave

Even though they've already freed him  
and the marks are gone.

Some nightmares don't end.  
Some curses are too deeply rooted  
to remove,  
to even know  
they're there…

They're there.  
They follow him  
until he falls

And they cleanse him  
to make sure  
he doesn't fall.


	12. chalk

**A/N:** This time it's #059 - chalk from the 100 Prompts Challenge.

* * *

 **water and souls**  
12\. chalk

They're marks of black  
carved into the walls  
and marks of white  
that shine along the halls.

They battle  
and the battles are long  
and out of sight  
and only the rows of ash  
and words  
tell the tale

But he sees them, mostly, now  
and he recalls.


	13. zeal

**A/N:** This time it's #096 - zeal from the 100 Prompts Challenge.

* * *

 **water and souls**  
13\. zeal

He finally finds his cause.  
It's a long road  
full of pain  
and sacrifice  
before he's there

And he wonders  
how this new road  
will look.  
Is it worse?  
Is it better?  
Is he going somewhere  
that'll waste all the things  
he's lost  
and gained?

But he's found his road.  
It doesn't matter  
what lays on it  
or its end,  
he has to go.

It took too much to find it  
after all.


	14. armour

**A/N:** This time it's #067 - armour from the 100 Prompts Challenge.

* * *

 **water and souls**  
14\. armour

He couldn't let  
anyone else  
get so close.

He'd lost  
the only one  
that had.

But it wasn't his choice to make  
in the end. They wormed their way  
past the door, past the chinks  
in his armour  
he couldn't fill  
because they only fell apart  
some more.

He couldn't let them close  
because he'd lose them to  
but they came anyway:  
flowers that would rot,  
laughter that would echo  
down the corridors and then fade  
with new words.

He couldn't let them close  
but they'd gotten close anyway  
and so, he couldn't  
let them go.


End file.
